


People Change People: A Girl Meets World Ficlet Collection

by alessandralee



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: Ficlet Collection, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-08
Updated: 2015-11-05
Packaged: 2018-04-19 18:47:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 1,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4757048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alessandralee/pseuds/alessandralee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of all my short GMW gen ficlets.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ghost Stories

“We don’t do ghost stories,” Farkle says. “It’s the rules.”

“It’s Halloween,” Zay reminds everyone. “You can’t just skip ghost stories. Did you hear the one about the ghost rat of Fulton Street Sta–”

Maya clamps a hand over his mouth before we can finish.

“Did you not hear the man,” she hisses. “We don’t do ghost stories. Not in front of Riley.”

It’s been a year since the Riley Committee learned that urban legends were as dangerous as information regarding the average lifespan of Central Park squirrels.

“Not even about rats?” Zay asks. They’re tiny rodents that live in sewers, even Riley can’t be that attached to them.

“Especially not any animals smaller than a shoebox,” Lucas confirms. “She thinks they’re adorable, even if they have rabies.”

“Especially if they have rabies,” Riley adds, only half paying attention. “It’s like they’re so excited to get out of their dark little hidey holes and see the world.”

Zay looks solemnly from Lucas to Farkle to Maya, “Does she know what happens after–”

“No,” they all yell.

And that’s the end of that conversation.


	2. Bonfire

“You know, I don’t think I realized what ‘Farkle’s dad is loaded’ meant until just now,” Maya comments with a low whistle.

“I just wanna know why we never hang out here,” Zay is the first one to step out of the stairwell and onto the rooftop.

It’s pretty impressive. Lots of shiny metal sculptures nestled between a giant stereo system and flat screen TVs. And that’s just one corner of it.

“My father says letting the riff-raff in will drive down property values,” Farkle informs them.

No one’s sure if he’s joking.

“Well I’m glad you decided we’re worth the risk,” Lucas replies, clapping Farkle on the shoulder. “Is that a pool?”

“We closed it up a few weeks ago,” Farkle explains. “Too cold. But everything else is fair game, except the grill. I almost set it on fire once, and now I’m not allowed to use it without adult supervision.”

“Somehow, I’m not surprised,” Maya tells him.

“What’s that?” Riley asks, pointing to a set of cushioned benches set around what looks like a gravel-covered table.

“Fire pit,” Farkle says. “Watch.”

They all follow him across the room to take seats. Farkle hits a few buttons on a nearby console and, immediately, a roaring fire springs to life.

“Impressive,” Maya crosses her arms and basks in the new warmth.

“I’m never leaving,” Zay adds. “You’ll need to drag me out.”

“I think I could,” Lucas says.

“I’d like to watch,” Maya tells them both. “My money’s on Huckleberry.”

“Farkle,” Riley cuts off any betting with a well-aimed smile, “can we toast s’mores?”

Immediately Farkle springs to his feet and heads to a giant stainless-steel refrigerator. He pulls out a few things and puts them on a tray in front of her.

“Belgian chocolate, hand-made graham crackers, and artisan marshmallows,” he points to each in turn.   
He barely has time to get the words out of him mouth before they’re all grabbing marshmallows and long roasting sticks from the bucket next to one of the benches.


	3. Fall Sports

“Texas Rangers?” Riley asks. “Maya, you don’t like baseball.”

Maya runs a hand down the front of her shirt, “Yes, but I do like rhinestones.”

Riley would almost believe her, if she hadn’t also been there to hear Lucas lament the fact that his Astros weren’t making it to the post-season, but the Rangers were.

“It’s not going to work,” Riley tells her.

“Why Riley, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Maya bats her eyelashes innocently.

“It’s not going to work, and you’re just going to end up frustrated like usual,” Riley says.

She wishes Maya would just give up on trying to get Lucas all riled up. It just has the opposite effect.

Maya just smirks and says, “We’ll see.”

They only have to wait a few minutes for Lucas to appear, deep in conversation with Zay.

Riley notices that his face falls the tiniest bit when he sees Maya’s shirt, but he recovers quickly.

“Riley, did you have any luck with that last problem Mrs. Kravits gave us?” he asks, effectively ignoring Maya.

She scowls, and slams her locker just a little too hard. Riley hopes her father isn’t standing next to the chalkboard again.

Zay, however, zeroes right in on Maya’s shirt.

“You’re a Rangers fan?” he asks. “Excellent taste, as usual.”


	4. Halloween Party

“I still think we should go trick-or-treating,” Riley says.

Her blonde Alice in Wonderland wig is still damp from her attempt at bobbing for apples.

Maya, currently laid out across the couch so that everyone else has to sit on the floor, reminds her, “We can’t. We’ve been banned from trick-or-treating in the building.”

Riley, Maya, and Lucas’s eyes all shift to Farkle, who says, “What? It was 9 o’clock. All the little kids were in bed. I was doing the Morgensterns a favor. They were complaining about their diets.”

“You probably should have asked first,” Lucas says quietly.

He’s been kind of quiet all evening, Farkle thinks he’s waiting for Maya to comment on his Superman costume. He’s kind of surprised she hasn’t yet.

Zay watches them all with amusement.

“Who are you even supposed to be?” he asks.

His own pirate costume is pretty obvious.

“Rasputin, the mad monk,” Farkle replies.

“Like the Disney movie?” Maya asks. She’d opted for a witch costume, complete with green body paint and a large wart on her nose. She was a stickler for details when it came to Halloween.

“Anastasia isn’t Disney, it’s Fox,” Riley corrects her.

“Same thing,” Maya dismissed her.

Farkle opens his mouth to say something, likely a long lecture on the inaccuracies of the movie Anastasia.

“No,” Maya cuts him off.

“But—“

“No,” she reaches into candy bowl on the Matthews’ coffee table and throws him a mini-Snickers. “Candy good, history bad.”

“I heard that,” Mr. Matthews calls from Auggie’s room.


	5. Wine Tasting

“It was such a small glass,” Riley says, eying her wineglass for any leftover liquid. “How could it be so strong?”

“It was six small glasses,” Farkle reminds her, “at two different vineyards.”

This is exactly why he volunteered to be designated driver. He’s long since learned what each of his friends is like when they’re drunk, and he knew today would be amusing.

“And they all taste the same,” Lucas comments. Wine tasting is clearly not his forte, but he’s being a good sport about it.

“Ya’ll’re pathetic,” Zay comments, his accent stronger than usual. “This one is peachy, the last one was buttery.”

At this point, no one asks how he’s become a wine connoisseur. It’s expected. Three years at college has turned Isaiah Babineaux into an expert in no fewer than six obscure fields.

At least wine makes more sense than taxidermy. New Yorkers drink wine. New Yorkers do not mount dead animals on the walls of their homes.

Maya’s quiet, which is pretty common when she drinks. Farkle thinks it’s because she’s trying to keep from showing how much she’s feeling it.

Given how small she is, she’s probably feeling it quite a bit.

“How many more stops are we making?” she asks.

“Two maximum,” Farkle tells her. “The next one has sheep.”

“Sheep?” Riley perks up even more at the mention of animals.

“Yeah,” Farkle says, already typing the address into the GPS on his phone. “It’s Jason and the Argonauts themed. They’re the golden fleece.”

Lucas looks at Farkle like he’s speaking gibberish.

“In order to obtain his throne, Jason was sent by King Pelias to obtain the Golden Fleece. He was successful, thanks to Medea’s help, but she’s a whole other can of worms,” Zay says.

Greek mythology was another branch of his knowledge.

“Let’s go,” Riley says, dragging Maya to her feet and pulling her towards the car.

Maya stumbles over her own feet, but the boys certainly know better than to bring it up.


	6. Mice

Farkle’s not sure how an entire cage full of mice disappeared, but he knows that if his mother finds out he’s a dead man.

Hopefully not of them have made it into his mother’s apartment.

Luckily, he’s got four friends who can help him search the apartment. Maybe it’s not such a bad thing that they interrupted his preparations of the science fair.

He pops his head into the living room where he left everyone.

“Hey, have you seen the–? Oh.”

Well that answers his question,

“You’re not going to do anything bad to these guys, are you?” Riley asks, cradling a mouse in each hand.

“If you are, we’re not letting you keep them,” Maya threatens.

“I’m just going to track their progress through a maze,” Farkle promises. “Nothing dangerous.”

“As long as you reward them afterwards,” Lucas says.

Farkle’s kind of surprised that even he’s managed to get attached to Farkle’s test subjects in a matter of minutes.

“Guys,” Zay says, distracting everyone from their furry friends, “Tiny just crawled up my jeans.”

He gets to his feet and starts shaking his leg.

“Don’t hurt him,” Riley cries, leaping over to stop his shaking.

“Tiny?” Maya asks, “What kind of name is that?”

“Really?” Zay says. “That’s the important thing? Someone help me get him out.”

“I think you’re going to have to take your pants off,” Farkle tells him.

The small lump is almost up to his hop by now.

Zay freezed, “Okay, just… everyone turn around I can take care of this myself.”


	7. Lost Your Mind

Lucas is just putting the final touches on his part of the display when Zay interrupts him.

“Have you lost your damn mind?” he asks. “We agreed no Legos.”

Lucas shrugs and examines his scene again, “I think it looks fine.”

“Farkle is going to murder you,” Zay tells him. “We spent six hours yesterday working on designs for the 3D printer, and you think throwing a paper crown on Luke Skywalker makes him a convincing Leopold I?”

“We’ll be fine,” Lucas insists. “It’s the paper that counts the most anyway.”

Zay folds him arms over his chest, “And you think Mr. Matthews won’t know Farkle did 90% of the paper before the History Fair was even announced?” He does have a point there. “You didn’t even bother taking the lightsaber out of his hand.”

“It’s a scepter,” Lucas tells him.

A deadly Jedi scepter.

“Scepters aren’t green,” Zay reminds him, shuffling through the papers he’s carrying, “They’re gold and encrusted with jewels.:”

He holds up a sheet of paper with a design for a gold, bejeweled scepter. Lucas imagines there’s another copy saved on the laptop he carries.

This is not the first time Lucas wishes he’d chosen different partners for this project. He’s pretty sure Farkle is only using him to carry heavy books. Riley and Maya wouldn’t do so much micromanaging.

They are weirdly obsessed with flappers, though. Supposedly their presentation involves a dance routine.

Maybe he’s better off this way after all.

“Okay, we’ve got an appointment for the library 3D printer in a half hour,” Farkle enters the room. “Zay, did you bring the designs?”

Zay nods and Farkle walks over to Lucas’s diorama,

One by one, he picks up each Lego figurine and drops them into the nearby garbage can.

“We’re better than this,” he tells Lucas. “Now put on your shoes, I need you to sweet talk the librarians into giving us extra time on the printer.”


End file.
